Lost and Found

The pure joy felt in finding my partner after losing my way (Candace)

We have been at yoga school for several days now, and are three days deep into our gastro-intestinal cleanse. This means, most simply, that we ate two apples per meal on the first day, one apple per meal on the second, and today we are restricted to water and tea. We’ll finish the cleanse off tomorrow by drinking a gallon of salt water and doing yoga until our stomachs are empty.

Sound like fun? Well, I can safely say that I have now lost all energy and can’t wait for a large pizza tomorrow afternoon.

Yesterday, after our afternoon meditation session, we decided, as a group, to visit a new center that the Sadhana owners are opening a few kilometers away, which will focus on silent yoga and meditation. (I’m practicing silence today, and it is strangely soothing to not have to talk and entertain). We began hiking up the hills to get to the new location in extreme heat and humidity, and about 30 minutes in, my body told me to stop. I had depleted energy from the cleanse, and the climb would really have been too difficult.

So the rest of the group hiked on, and I sat for a while and watched the lake. And I sat. And I sat. And then, suddenly, I really had to go to the bathroom.

I thought that I could figure out how to get back to the retreat on my own, so I started hiking down the hill. But one road and a rice paddie later, I was completely lost. In fact, I got so turned around that I ended up an entire town away. And in this town, no one spoke English.

So with no phone, no money, and about two sips of water left in my water bottle, I started hiking back until one of the staff members found me (apparently they had launched a search). And by this point, I had to poop on the side of the road, so I was a literal and figurative mess.

As I made my last few painful, hot, thirsty steps back, I saw Andrew a few meters away, and as I usually do when I see him after a stressful experience, I began to cry. He held me and kissed me and poured a bottle of cold water on my head. And then he took me to our room and washed me in the shower.

As he kissed my forehead and told me how much he loved me and how relieved he was that I was okay, I silently thanked God for this prince.